Counter and heel guard



June 7,1927. 1,631,310

M. M. DORAN COUNTER AND HEEL GUARD Filed Oct. 27. 1926 T INVENTOR is (aade i'zifibmia BY MTQRNEY Patented June 7, 1927.

warren stares Matron M. 110mm. or SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

COUNTER; AND HEEL GUARD.

Application filed. October 27, 1926. Serial No. 144,566.

The object of this invention is to provide a novel form of protecting device for guarding rear portions of the heel and counter of the shoe from being scuffed and defaced as a result of manipulating the treadles of an automobile.

It is well known that rear portions of the shoes of drivers soon become worn and defaced by frequent rubbing contact with the floor mats of automobiles by reason of the tiled position which the foot occupies inoperating the gas, brake and other tread-lo devices. This is especially true *ith ladies shoes by reason of the fact that the high heels recede from the counter thereby exposing the latter to extreme localized wear on the rear portions thereof.

It is an ob'ect of in i invention to )l'OViClG 1 at protecting device 111 the form or a: guard made up of one integral piece of material that is provided with means whereby the guard may be readily attached to and detached from the heel of the shoe.

t is afurther feature of my invention to make the guard of resilient or elastic material .such as rubber, and to provide the guard with attaching means that must be distended when attached to the heel, the guard being acted upon by such distension in such amanner that the guard will be held in protecting relation to the counter and heel.

' My invention has many other features and objects which will be more fully de'- scribed in connection with the accompanying drawing and which will be more particularly pointed out in and by the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1, is a View 1n side elevation gen erally illustrating the position of the foot in connection with the gas treadle of an automobile, the guard of my invention being shown applied to a ladies shoe.

Fig. 2, is an enlarged view in side elevation showing the guard more clearly and illustrating how it can beworn without impeding the user in walking.

Fig. 3, is a view looking from the left of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4, of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5, is a plan view of the guard shown he same before it is applied to a shoe and. in normal condition.

is a sectional view on line l'l Fig. 6, is anedge view thereof.

Like characters of reference desigi'iate similar parts throughoutthe different figures of the drawing.

I have siiown the device of my invention applied to a low shoe 1, although by reason of the novel attaching means with which my guard is provided, it is equally adapted to any type of shoe.

In the preferred form, the guard 2 is formed from a. sheet or strip of material such as rubber, having the essential: requirements of pli'abilit'y and extensibility and elasticity that will permit of the guard adapting'itself to shoes of various sizes. and shapes and performing its function on each, with equal facility, thereby avoiding the necessity of making a number of sizes of the guard.

The guard, asshown, is a vertically elongated shaped device, the upper-portion 3 being of slightly greater width than. the lower portion 4. In practice, I prefer to make the guard of a single piece of relatively thin rubber which, in its normal con dition and in the absence of stress, will lie in a single plane, the size size. The guard'isproportioned to be horizontal-1y arched about the rear of the counter and heel of the shoe, the guard extending laterally a sufiicient distance to protect the.

shoe from any wear and defacement that it could possibly suffer, in the performance of the function shown in F ig. 1.

I will next describe a means withwhich the guard is equipped for the purpose of permittingthe guard to be readily attached to or detached from a shoe.

As shown, I provide the guard with a slit 5 which is near enough to the lower edge 6 to afford stock for a heel engaging strap or band 7. It will be noted that this slit 01' slot 5, is substantially horizontally disposed, with reference to the position of the guard shown in Fig. 5, and that it extends across the reduced lower portion of the guard and toward but not to the side edges 8 thereof. Thus, there is ample stock 9, between the terminal ends of the slit 5, and the edges 8, for the durable performance of a function which I will later describe.

In applying the guard to a shoe, the slitted portion is distended with the main body of the guard abreast of the counter 10, of the shoe. The strap or band 7, is disposed.

shown being full abreast of the front face 11, of the heel 12, and then the upper end 3, is pulled upwardly to dispose the guard at the desired height, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. It makes a neater appearance when applying the guard, to turn the band 7 so that the reverse side 13, of the band 7, is disposed outermost while the face 14 thereof is against the front of the heel, as shown. However, this is not an essential feature as the guard will be firmly held in place irre pective of the disposition of the band 7. However, a very valuable feature consists in reducing the total length of the slit 5, with respect to the circumference of the heel 12, so that when the latter is encircled with the slotted portion of the guard, the material of which the latter is composed will be placed under tension. By so tensioning the guard, the main body is drawn against the counter of the shoe and is horizontally arched about the latter, as a form, thereby neatly fitting the shoe.

It will now be clear why I feature the idea of leaving a su'tiicient amount of stock at 9, between the ends of slit 5 and the edges 8, the purpose being not only to preserve the length of the slit 5, but also to provide stock for transmitting the stress resulting from tensioning the slit, to upper portions of the guard to thereby hold the latter in place.

When the guard is applied, the upper bight 15, of the slit 5, is ext-ended about the rear and side portions of the heel 12, where as, the lower portion or bight 16. of the slit is extended about the front and side portions of the heel. Now when the band 7, is reversed, as shown, there is imparted to the body of the guard a very pronounced stress tending to hold the guard in the position shown in Fig. 2.

It will be noted that the heel, below the guard, is free and uncovered and likewise unobstructed, and that the guard does not extend to the bottom of the heelv Hence, if the wearer wishes to alight from the automobile to enter a store, or for any purpose, the guard need not be detached since its presence does not in any way impede walking while the guards are attached.

It is believed that the device of my invention will be fully understood from the foregoing description and while I have herein shown one specific form of my invention, 1 do not wish to belimited thereto except for such limitations as the claims may import.

I claim:

1. In a shoe counter and heel protecting device, a normally flat sheet rubber guard proportioned to encase the rear portions of the heel and counter, and said guard having a heel. receiving slit theretl'irough sufficiently close to the lower edge of said guard to form a relatively narrow heel engaging band adapted to extend around the front portion of theheel, the length of said slit being sufficiently reduced with respect to the circumference of the heel to tension and arch the guard about the heel and counter when the shtted portion is stretched about the heel,

thereby holding the remainder of the guard in protecting relation about the heel and counter.

2. In a shoe counter and heel protecting device, a sheet rubber guard having a slit therethrough adjacent one edge and terminating between the side edges of and providing the guard with a heel engaging band, the upper bight of said slit being adapted to encircle rear portions of the heel and the lower bight of said slit encircling frontportions of the heel under sufiicient tension to horizontally arch the guard in protecting relation about the heel and counter.

3. In a shoe counter and heel protecting device, a rubber sheet guard proportioned to extend vertically along the rear of the heel and counter of a shoe, said guard having means adapted to engage the heel for holding said guard in position and arching said guard about the heel and counter.

In. witness that I claim the foregoing as my own, I hereby affix my signature.

MAUDE M. onna. V 

